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My Journal - Alex


AlexTheGrape

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You're in a great part of Australia for a holiday.

What's on the agenda for the rest of your trip?

I'm still going to be here in Noosa Heads for the next few days, and perhaps some surrounding towns. I'll hopefully go out into the sea to surf tomorrow (briefly) if it's good weather.

 

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Today has been another great day on holiday, but I have felt exhausted from doing nearly nothing. I found this is partially because the time I now need to spend writing to pen pals is overwhelming, as over time I've been contacted by different people and I now have over 15 pen pals. No wonder why it has gotten hard for me to post here! I have prioritised who I should keep in contact with regularly, who I should contact occasionally, and who I can keep in touch with every few months. This way I'll have much more time to focus on developing myself and doing hobbies I enjoy; writing to too many pen pals has become quite the chore.

I wish to establish the ambition I had in my last school holidays; this involved exercising regularly, playing the guitar, programming, meditating, visualising, and doing a few other things daily. Doing these things gave me a great sense of purpose, engagement, and personal growth. When I challenged myself in this way but with a clear path set by myself, I have actually enjoyed myself and felt proud of my accomplishments. I can't say that I've felt proud of much that I've done these holidays, and it is drawing to a close already.

I have a few proposed changes I'd like to make to my daily life (non-holidays) so that I can get in my most helpful habits whilst not overwhelming myself with the huge list of things I used to use.

  • Read a self-development book for at least 20 minutes per day, writing any important or useful information/lessons into a dedicated book.
  • Meditate, visualise, exercise in the morning.
  • I'd like to get some daily python programming done, but most of my previous methods haven't worked. I think I will mix it in with my school work.
  • Gratefulness practice and reflection through GQ journal entry, and posting an entry every day.

This is a simple list, but it has the essentials I need to be the happiest I can be. I am happy when I am confident in my work ethic and am being successful in many areas, so doing these will be both for my happiness and self-development.

I've had some cravings to play EU4 (a video game) recently, so I think that having played for a few hours of video games with my old school friends has corrupted my mind with gaming nostalgia. I will definitely need to keep my exposure to gaming to a minimum to keep myself focused on the right things. I received a short reply to my goodbye email to one of my Chinese pen pals that acknowledged my need to get on with my own life, and I quote her with "Live in a real life!". It's no use quitting video games only to be staring at a screen to send endless emails about how I've been doing the past week.

I no longer have a day counter for my detox, and I know that having it helped me stay accountable. I will use this same tool for encouraging me to complete all my daily helpful habits, which I will call my habit success streak. I need to keep consistent with what I'm doing to make my morning success routine work in the long run, and so starting at Habit Success Streak Day 1 tomorrow should be a big help with that.

Thank you to all that have followed and helped me along my journey so far, I believe I am starting another episode of my path for success. (Notice how it's a path of success, not to success, as there's no end destination to improving oneself; there's always room for improvement!).

I'll start adding a picture per day that has been taken with my camera, to make use of my photography and make my posts more interesting for the reader!

This photo was taken by me at a lookout point that has views over Noosa Heads in the Sunshine Coast, Australia. In the foreground is my little brother wearing a Koala beanie looking out to the mountain beyond (or so I'd assume).

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Habit Success Streak Day 1

Today I made a late start to my morning success routine, but I did it nonetheless. It certainly helped me with doing python programming not long after, but I think I might start doing cold showers again to get it all done quicker. I got in some solid python programming today, so I'm happy with what I've done. I'll be heading back to New Zealand tomorrow, so that will be the end of my holiday.

I have yet to do my 10 pages/20 minutes of reading a self-development book, but I'll do that before I go to bed. Otherwise, I'll have fully completed my first day of habit success.

3 Things I'm grateful for:

I am grateful for the big room I get for myself in the resort I'm staying in.

I am grateful for my giant water glass.

I am grateful for the time I have to spend playing with my little brother.

What went well today:

My morning success routine worked wonders for my work ethic; I didn't have any second thoughts about doing homework when I hadn't been able to bring myself to do so earlier.

What I could have done to make today better:

I could have done my morning success routine as soon as I got up for maximum benefits throughout the day.

What I will do differently tomorrow:

I have to get up early tomorrow to catch the flight back to NZ, so I won't be able to do my morning exercise. To improve my day I will make sure to do all my morning tasks except for exercise.

I would advise you to state your commitments for this habit streak clearly and formulate exceptions for special occasions(Sickness,important tasks etc.) If you do it in the start you know what you can do and don't have to compromise with your conscience if things come up.

Thank you very much for that advice! I'll state it clearly now:

  • I'll decide on doing whatever is asked of me on my Forcefit app for my exercise, along with meditation and visualisation in the morning.
  • I will read 10 pages of self-development book.
  • I will do at least 20 minutes of python programming/reading of python material.
  • Daily GQ post including gratitude journal and reflection.

 

This picture was taken on one of the Noosa Heads shores, with my little brother walking over the rocks.

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Just a quick update: I've gotten busy with school again, but I am reminded that consistent journal entries are, indirectly, key to me being happy. Without journal entries I'm not held accountable to reflect on my day, practice gratefulness, and keep to my commitments that help me in the long run. I'll now dedicate 20 minutes starting 7:40pm every day (if possible) to just writing a journal entry. Thanks to the reader for taking the time to read up on my journal, please voice yourself as I may need some more encouragement.

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Just a quick update: I've gotten busy with school again, but I am reminded that consistent journal entries are, indirectly, key to me being happy. Without journal entries I'm not held accountable to reflect on my day, practice gratefulness, and keep to my commitments that help me in the long run. I'll now dedicate 20 minutes starting 7:40pm every day (if possible) to just writing a journal entry. Thanks to the reader for taking the time to read up on my journal, please voice yourself as I may need some more encouragement.

Always got you bro!

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Habit Success Streak Day 1

I started off my day well with my morning success routine; although I didn't run that far I did my meditation, visualization, and had a cold shower, none of which I did yesterday. I didn't get any python programming done outside of school, but this is a big step up from doing hardly any of these things for a week.

In the afternoon I snacked when I got home, and felt very lethargic afterwards as it was some pretty unhealthy food. I know I do my best work when I'm energised from exercise, so I've written a 'break plan' for taking 5 minute breaks in between work sessions. It involves some different high-energy exercises, and then at the end I reward myself with a random fact which I search up.

3 Things I'm grateful for:

I am grateful that I'm richer than all my ancestors (due to technology and lifestyle)

I am grateful for my reliable computer, it has served me well so far.

I am grateful for having a chapel service at school that gives me opportunity to think about life values.

I believe it would be great to add this to my gratefulness practice every day, it felt great to add it today: "I thank the universe for this wonderful gift of life." It'll be a reminder that my life is a gift that I ought to appreciate every day.

 

What went well today:

My morning routine kept me active throughout most of the day despite me having several interruptions to my sleep. I will make sure to continue this into the foreseeable future.

What I could have done to make my day better:

I could have meditated when my mind became clouded with negative thoughts this afternoon (to clear my head) and to make sure I take breaks so that I remain productive. 

What I will do differently tomorrow:

I will make sure to have 5 minute exercise breaks between 45 minute work periods so that I remain as productive and energised as possible. I will pack my afternoon snack to eat on the bus, and have it healthier this time.

 

This photo I took at Noosa, Queensland, Australia.

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Edited by AlexTheGrape
I forgot to add my daily photo!
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Argh! I wrote a super long post but it's gone now as I clicked away to see which photos I've posted already, to finish my post :'(

In summary today went well, but I need to get back to organising how I'm going to do my work through setting time periods to do them.

 

We going surfing when I come visit Alex? :D

I'm terrible at surfing but it'll be a fun time undoubtedly :P  If I haven't mentioned to you earlier already, I visualise meeting you on a beach so that'd fit well with achieving my goals in a way. I'd be all for doing surfing if you came to New Zealand!

I notice my new rank of 'Legend', thanks for the promotion! Is it another addition to the post counter (I assume it's based on the amount of posts you make) or do you give it to members? I also noticed an 'Old timers' one, I'm guessing that's in response to your comment earlier on making an old timers group :)

 

This photo I've also taken at Noosa, you gotta love sunset photos (I certainly do!)

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Yep I added a few new titles. STILL LOOKING FOR IDEAS. Here are the current ones:

New Member
Member (10 posts)
Veteran (30 posts)
Old Timer (300 posts)
Legend (no post count, I give it to members.)

Looks like when you said "You're a Game Quitters Legend!" (April 16) you weren't joking! Thank you very much for this title, I am privileged. 

Perhaps a rank or two could be added between Veteran and Old timer. Maybe 'Valued Member' could be in between Member and Veteran, but on the other hand it may imply that newer members aren't valued. 'Seasoned', 'Adept', or 'Experienced' in front of 'Member' could make for a combination of titles for in between 30 and 100 posts. 'Member' could possibly be replaced with 'Comrade' for a bit of variation. I hope that helps and I'll let you know if I think of any other ones. :D

 

Haha didn't catch that Legend banner at first. Well deserved alex well deserved :D

Thanks Mario! Welcome to the Old Timer's club :D

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What about creating Regular and making that 30 posts, and having Veteran be 100 or 150 posts?

It makes a lot of sense, but people that are currently at 50 posts or so would become demoted. In the long term it look like a good solution though :) Would there be a way to use word counts from people's posts instead of the total number of posts? The system favors many short posts rather than larger, more helpful ones. In any case the post count is still a good way to measure someone's input to the community, I think it could just be improved with combining it with a word count in some way.

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What about creating Regular and making that 30 posts, and having Veteran be 100 or 150 posts?

yeah seems like a better way to do it. It is kind of strange that you are a "veteran" so early. The fact that most regular users do write in a daily journal leads too nearly all members beeing veteran which is kind of strange.

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Yep I added a few new titles. STILL LOOKING FOR IDEAS. Here are the current ones:

New Member
Member (10 posts)
Veteran (30 posts)
Old Timer (300 posts)
Legend (no post count, I give it to members.)

For whatever reason I really like the idea of more titles haha. As others said Veteran at 30 posts should be moved up. Here's some other ideas just to brainstorm:

 

New Member 0

Member 10

Novice GameQuitter 30

Adept GameQuitter 100

Veteran GameQuitter 250

Old Timer 400

Unstoppable 600

Over 9000! (9000+) (jk :P)

Legend (Special)

 

Haha, I'm not sure if I actually like the Idea of having "Veteran Gamequitter" instead of just like "Veteran" but I thought I'd throw it out there. Even if you just stick with Veteran, maybe have some intermediate rank just called "GameQuitter" around 100 or something. Idk. I'm sure there are other cool titles we can come up with.

Edited by kortheo
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I've spent my time I should have on my journal on other's journals; I'll keep this one short.

I'll probably go in more detail about how my day has been going in tomorrow's post, as I suppose I have a lot to say.

Firstly, I have felt under a little pressure to seem perfect due to my new 'Legendary' title, so I didn't post the last couple of days when I hadn't completed all my daily habits for myself. Obviously we can't be perfect, and I've realised that journalling is supposed to highlight where I've gone wrong. Therefore I need to continue journalling even when I don't cut it; that's how I keep myself accountable.

Today I got up really early and had a stressful start by having to drive for more than an hour. Why? To get to a fencing competition! The secondary schools competition is now on, and so I can finally compete in some fencing competitions that aren't so professional. I'll have plenty of photos to upload soon, as I saw a couple of good ones taken by one of the referees that was also being the photographer. I did pretty well today, but I know I can do a lot better if I put in the time to practice my technique and speed in my own time.

That's all for now, and thanks for reading!

I uploaded this photo to ManGodWhyNo's journal some minutes ago, and I said: Here's a photo I took some 3 weeks ago, and here's an inspirational line I thought of to go with it: "Our lives are a reflection of the choices we've made. The reflection is all the more amazing when you build your bridge over your pool of troubles."

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  That's a great quote!

I'm so jealous that you're a legend, but I feel that you've offered some of the most invaluable (it means extremely useful, ironically) advice over the life of GameQuitters, so you deserve it. Kudos, m8!

Btw your new profile picture is FUCKIN AWESOME :D

 

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Habit Success Streak Day 1

I'm back on track with my daily habits today, which has given me a great feeling. I started off the day slowly but I meditated, visualised, and worked out successfully. Cold showers are again becoming a chore, I think it might have a lot to do with the fact that I can't measure how much better (if at all) I'm doing during the day by having a cold shower. I had a mostly warm shower today, and I wasn't the most productive I could be. I guess I'm just going to find out eventually from trial and error, but as far as I know, I've been more productive and active on a lot of days that I had a cold shower.

almost started playing guitar today, but the fact that I'm considering practicing on school nights and weekends is a good sign that I should get back into it. I'm not exactly sure why I stopped, it is likely that after my second relapse I hadn't prioritized it (I believe I was being a bit hard on myself at the time to do lots of helpful habits). Anyhow I am needing something a bit more engaging to do in my free time that isn't programming, so I think playing guitar will be very good for that.

I got a bit of python programming done, but more importantly I got some decent studying done for exams and such.

3 Things I'm grateful for:

I am grateful that we have two cats here who will love you no matter who you are.

I am grateful that I can have seconds of dinner, I know many people around the world can't even have dinner at all.

I am grateful for having the opportunity to fence people from other school in the secondary schools fencing competition.

I thank the universe for this wonderful gift of life in all its beauty. (I might vary this line with whatever insight I feel like adding).

What went well today:

Getting through my morning exercise felt rewarding today, if I put more effort into it I'm sure it'll feel even better.

What I could have done to make my day better:

Despite having exercised in the morning, I was quite lethargic. I think it might have to do with having a warm shower, as I know that having a cold one paired with exercise wakes me up well.

What I will do differently tomorrow:

Have a cold shower!

 

Attached are two photos: The first is a great shot of me (in the blue) scoring a clean hit in a Sabre bout in yesterday's competition.

The second is one I took a few years ago underneath the oak tree at my mother's place, I posted it on Paul's journal with this quote I thought of for it: "A tree never stops growing. It pursues personal growth until it dies."  I hope it will be inspirational, or just plain hilarious. :D

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